Operating System
- Windows 98SE or above
- Windows NT service programs (Windows NT 4 SP4, Windows 2000 and Windows XP Home and Professional)
For Windows NT and Windows 98 the Windows scripting engine and Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) may be required depending on other software currently installed. These are free downloads from the Microsoft website - http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting and http://www.microsoft.com/data. If the browser installed is Internet Explorer 4.02 or later, then the scripting engine will be up to date. i-method checks for these components on first run and prompts if any download is required.
Browser
A browser capable of executing VBScript. Normally this is any browser utilising the Trident layout engine such as Internet Explorer 4 and above. i-method will not function on browsers using the Gecko layout engine such as Mozilla Firefox.
Database
Microsoft
SQL Server 2000 or later. i-method is shipped with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) Release A. This is installed with the instance name 'IMETHOD'. Alternatively, i-method can use any existing SQL Server - contact us for installation instructions.
Additional Requirements
Firewall: i-method includes a full-featured web server which starts when the program is run. This web server is bound to all network interfaces in the computer and to a specific port. The program will search for the first available IP port. As i-methods installs and uses a service on an IP port it can generate a warning from any installed firewall.
Cookies: i-method makes use of session variables and non-persistent cookies and the product will not function if these are turned off. Cookies must therefore be accepted for i-method.
Command Prompt: On first run i-method attaches the database files using a batch file. This runs hidden. The security policy must therefore allow this batch file to run from the Command Prompt. Once the database is attached the batch file is no longer needed although it runs each time i-method is called to maintain the database attachment.
In this case i-method is supplied as a ‘ready-to-go’ website. ‘Pure’ HTML is used throughout. No ‘webbots’ are used. The structuring and clustering of the html/asp within i-method documents follows a grid web cluster design although a sequential design is implied in that there is a single point of entry (the “Home” page). Integration with an existing Intranet site is usually via this single entry point so that i-method should fit easily regardless of existing structure. A frameset is used on the main site. Child windows are used for contextual help, for database searches and for database updates. The contextual help section also uses a frameset.
i-method should be published to an Intranet server. The server platform should be capable of executing ASP scripts, e.g. MS IIS. Publishing to a public Internet site is forbidden under the terms of the licence. If this is not possible we offer a hosting service - contact us for more details.
i-method is supplied with .mdf files which should be attached to an existing SQL Server. The database acts as a data store only and has no internal queries or reports, nor does it contain any data dependencies. Data types are date, text, memo and numeric only. Connection to the database is through a File Data Source Name (DSN). Other connection options can be catered for by arrangement. Alternatively the MSSQL Desktop Engine can be used. Database administration is done from within the product so there is no need for a ‘database manager’.
